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The shock of the Penn State pedophilia scandal has been bad
enough, but almost equally distressing is the ineptitude of
the response from all the parties involved. When Sandusky,
Paterno, McQueary, and Erickson speak, the situation becomes more
appalling. In recent weeks, the actions of Penn State trustee Ira
Lubert have been second guessed by the New York Times, USA Today, and Yahoo.
When I ran into Lubert, wearing jeans and a sweat shirt,
peacefully watching a football game at Schlessinger's Deli, I
could not resist asking him some questions. I have known
Lubert for over 20 years. I can say that during that time he has
always been fair and decent to me. For a guy of his immense
wealth, he has always been very approachable and low
maintenance.
He said, "The whole Penn State situation is a disaster. I
was on a conference yesterday morning from 9am to noon. I was on
two conferences calls today, 9 in the morning and 5pm. I will be
at Penn State starting Wednesday of this week for three
days."
Since the replacement to football coach Joe Paterno had been
chosen, I wondered why he was still working hard. "I am on the
executive committee," he explained. He then joked, "I am making
so much money for all this hard work." Lubert is, of course, a
volunteer. "The job is alot harder than it looks from the
outside," he continued.
His friend, builder Jeffery Orleans chimed in, "Ira bleeds Penn
State." Lubert was a star wrestler at Penn State and is now
rumored to contribute substantially to the salaries of both the
wrestling and football coaches. There is no doubt that his
incredible salesmanship helped the troubled football program land
a coach.
I have no reason to doubt his loyalty to the Nittany Lions. I
also dispute the contention that his actions were a power play.
He already has enough power. Lubert, who is an ardent
Republican, is about to open a money printing casino in Valley
Forge. He also has been very generous to Philadelphia
institutions such as sponsoring the National Constitution
Center's Liberty Medal, which has been awarded to former British
Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Secretary of Defense Bob
Gates. However, Lubert-Adler is the target of several
unhappy investor lawsuits.
Naturally, I wondered why Penn State did not consult with public
relations professionals before the media maelstrom. Lubert
said, "I do not see any advantage in talking to the media."
He apparently miscalculated that the media would want
to talk to him.
He stood by his decision of not using a staffing firm to find
hire Bill O'Brien as replacement football coach. "The member of
the committee had vast experience in hiring people." said Lubert.
Maybe, he should have checked with his own employees before
considering himself an expert on hiring.
Former employees have complained that he is a tough boss. One
disgruntled employee told me, "People don't realize that he is
the Bernie Madoff of Philadelphia." For the record, I have found
no evidence that Lubert defrauded investors. Some of his recent
real estate investments are underwater or bankrupt because they
were made at the top of the market while Lubert earned
substantial fees to make these bad investments.
I was not able to get an answer to the most important question of
all- Why didn't the Penn State trustees react quicker to the
scandal and fire Paterno and complete bar access to
Sandusky?